Emotion

–Subjective–Physiological–Behavioral–Social

Aspects of Emotion

Components of Emotion

Cognitive component • subjective conscious feelings—thoughts,

values and expectations

Components of Emotion

Physiological (arousal) component • controlled by certain brain structures and

autonomic nervous system

“Fight or Flight” Restore Calm

Components of Emotion

Behavioural component (emotional expression—facial expressions,

gestures, body position, use of eye gaze, touch and tone of voice)

• Why do we feel emotion?• What purpose does it serve?• Are humans the only animals that feel

emotion?• How many emotions are there?

James-Lange Theory

• A stimulus directly produces physiological changes and behavior, and then these events produce the feeling of an emotion.

stimulus Physiological response Emotion

James-Lange Theory

• Smiling makes you feel happy• Crying makes you feel sad

Class experimentHold a pen/pencil in your mouth

Group 1: hold pen with lips

Group 2: hold pen with teeth

Group 3: hold pen in non-dominant hand

Rate the following cartoons for the level of humour 1 – 5

1 not humourous2 a bit humourous3 moderately humourous4 very humourous5 extremely humourous

Facial Feedback Hypothesis

• Facial feedback is interpreted by the brain as being a certain emotion.

• Once an emotion is activated, the whole body becomes aroused.

• Arousal and external stimuli maintain the emotion after facial feedback initiates it.

Facial Feedback Hypothesis:The modern version of James-Lange theory

Facial expressions

Emotional experience

Passive Facial Feedback Participants and apparatus (do not note)

One hundred and eight-nine Japanese undergraduates (101 males and 88 females) participated.

One hundred and thirteen were assigned to the experimental condition, and 76 to the control condition.

Small plastic pipettes and warmed water were used.

Method

Water dripped on the participants cheeks or temples.

Then, the raters rated their subjective emotion on a seven point scale.

Experimental Condition

Control Condition

0

10

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Sad Neutral Cheerful Mixed

CheeksTemples

Water dropping on the cheeks tended to cause the sad emotion more often than the cheerfulness.

Cannon-Bard Theory

Theory in which the physiological reaction and the emotion occur at the same time.

Stimulus

Emotion

Physiological Response

Theory of Cognitive Appraisal

(Schachter-Singer 2 factor theory of emotion)A two-stage theory stating that for an

emotion to occur, there must be 1.physiological arousal and 2.an explanation for the arousal

Two key variables manipulated-1. Arousal 2. Emotional Explanation for the Arousal were the two

• Participants injected with “suproxin”– Placebo or Epinephrine– Participants either informed or misinformed about the

effects of the drug

• Confederate acted angry or euphoric

Schachter and Singer (1962)Experiment

Epinephrine uninformed more angry/happy than informed because they attributed their arousal (which was drug induced) to the situation.

• Implication:Emotions are somewhat arbitrary, depending on

what the most plausible explanation for the arousal happens to be.

Evaluation of Emotion Theories

Emotional responses vary more than any one theory allows depending on the situation.

Currently no emotional theory is accepted as completely correct .

Three Ways to Measure Emotion

1. Body/Physical

2. Thoughts

3. Behavior

Culture and Emotional Expression

Basic emotions are similar

Social rules about display of emotions vary from culture to culture eg Japanese vs Italian

Three Ways to Measure Emotion• Body/Physical

– blood pressure

– heart rate

– epinephrine levels

– muscle activity when smiling, frowning, etc.

– neural images

– posture

– tears,

– perspiration

– lie detector readings

Three Ways to Measure Emotion• Thoughts (observed indirectly through)

– spoken and written words on rating scales

– answers to open-ended questions on surveys and during interviews

– self-assessments or perceptions regarding the behavior and intentions of others

– other cognitive operations such as rational/logical thinking

Three Ways to Measure Emotion• Behavior

– facial expressions

– activity level

– alertness

– screaming

– laughing

– smiling

– aggression

– approach/avoidance

– attention/distraction

– insomnia

Ethical Issues of Polygraphs

• Lie detectors only 75% reliable• Some people better at hiding facial/body

expression of emotion

Overview of General Theories of Emotion

• James-Lange Theory (arousal and expression produce emotion)

• ii. Cannon-Bard Theory (cognitions, arousal and expression are simultaneous)

• iii. Facial-Feedback Hypothesis (expression produces emotion)

• iv. Schachter’s Two-Factor Theory (emotions depend on 2 factors—physical arousal and cognitive labelling of that arousal)

Ms Collins Psychology Class Semester 2 2009Facial Feedback Experiment

Results show that facial expression has an affect on how humorous a participant found a series of cartoons.

Frown Group Control Group Smile Group3.1

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